08-22-2008, 04:41 AM
As many of you know I’ve been building a house over the past 15 months, and it has sucked the life out of me. We finally got our last inspection passed, and had to make a marathon packing adventure to get ready for a shorter than normal hunt. You guys know that haste makes waste, and that something inevitably gets left behind. Well a couple of those some things ended up being my binos and my range finder! Not fun tools to be without. But it could have been worse, it could have been a bow, arrows, license…you know, the really important stuff. Either way we made it down and had a fun hunt.
So here is the story. It started out on Tuesday evening when I decided to take my 7 year old daughter out for her first real sit down hunt. We had a little seep to sit by, and I took some snacks, so I figured we were golden. Well about 45 minutes into our evening hunt a doe and fawn come grazing along…pretty cool, and just far enough away that we weren’t worried about getting busted. Then much to my surprise the dumb doe beds down about 100 yards off, but facing right at us! We sat there for another 25 minutes and my little one was getting so antsy I decided to spook her off, hoping that she would just run away. Well she snorted all over the place and bounded around like she was on crack. I figured she had spooked anything else around, so we decided to slow road hunt back to camp. On our way back, I see a nice group of deer a couple hundred yards off, but it was getting late, and I didn’t have any optics, but there were no small bodies among them, so likely a herd of bucks. There wasn’t any time to get a sneak on them that evening, so we just rode on to camp.
Another day rolls by and I go back to that spot I had seen the deer at. I spent a lot of time working out my path into their little lair, and I knew if the wind didn’t hose me, I should have a decent chance at getting a deer. I started my little adventure at 4:30, got into the spot and all nice and cozy at about 5:30, took a little nap, and then just waited. About 7:30 I see this deer about 80 yards out…once again, no optics, but I could see it was a nice buck. I thought this one looks big enough to be a 3 or 4 bagger, so definitely a shooter, but he’s grazing the wrong way. 20 minutes later, he comes grazing back my way, this time accompanied by a little 2 point. As he gets closer, I can see that it isn’t a 3 or 4 point, but a really big 2 point! This is a nice buck, and I decided I would take the shot it gets close enough. Then coming from the other direction comes a 3 or 4 point (I could count the points, just not all of them without optics). This is going to get interesting! The two 2 points are working their way much closer now, and the wind is swirling a little. To make matters more interesting the other buck in the trees now has a nice 4 point as a friend, but they were still 65 or so yards away in thick pines, whereas the 2 points were in the clearing coming closer! I knew if they got much closer they would wind me and the evening hunt would be over. When they hit about 30 yards, I tell myself it’s time to put some meat on the table, and I draw my bow when they drop their heads to graze. I let my 25 yd pin rest behind the shoulder of the big buck, when Mr. Smalls steps right in front of him! Now that usually wouldn’t be a big deal, but this year because of my new house project, I haven’t practiced holding my bow back so I have no idea how long I can hold this position, all while they are grazing closer and closer. I was counting heartbeats and lost track around 140, so I figured I held my bow back for about 2 minutes, even though it seemed like forever! Anyways the little deer keeps getting closer and is now about 12 or 13 yards away when the big one finally comes to the side of him, quartering to me a little, when he looks up at me…not that busted look, but that hey that looks just a little out of place look, so I know it’s now or never. I let the pin settle down just in front of the shoulder and let her rip! I was thinking this one is going right down the pipe and will probably exit just in front of the back leg, taking out every chunk of vital organ in the way. Much to my chagrin, the shot was a little high, but took out a chuck of muscle on the front shoulder, cut through a rib, and lodged right in the spinal cord! This buck drops like a ton of crap and starts flopping like a fish out of water! He was only running on 1.5 wheels. Blood was pouring from his neck, and I think he’ll be out of gas real soon now. The little buck he was with couldn’t figure out which way was up and just kept dancing around his buddy wondering what was going on. He stuck around going all around in circles for at least 10 minutes, coming several times within 10 yards of me before I had to spook him off. After about 15 minutes of Mr. Big crawling and laying down, one of the 4 points in the trees finally made it out, looked at him for about a minute, then bolted off through the trees. I finally had to get up and finish him off as he wasn’t burning enough oil on his own. I put a shot through his lungs and that was lights out! It was dark when I got him cleaned out, so I left him splayed out to cool in the night and went back first thing this morning to get him packed out.
It was a great hunt, and I really look forward to next year when I can try for his 4 point buddy that ran away! Here are a couple of pics for your viewing pleasure!
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So here is the story. It started out on Tuesday evening when I decided to take my 7 year old daughter out for her first real sit down hunt. We had a little seep to sit by, and I took some snacks, so I figured we were golden. Well about 45 minutes into our evening hunt a doe and fawn come grazing along…pretty cool, and just far enough away that we weren’t worried about getting busted. Then much to my surprise the dumb doe beds down about 100 yards off, but facing right at us! We sat there for another 25 minutes and my little one was getting so antsy I decided to spook her off, hoping that she would just run away. Well she snorted all over the place and bounded around like she was on crack. I figured she had spooked anything else around, so we decided to slow road hunt back to camp. On our way back, I see a nice group of deer a couple hundred yards off, but it was getting late, and I didn’t have any optics, but there were no small bodies among them, so likely a herd of bucks. There wasn’t any time to get a sneak on them that evening, so we just rode on to camp.
Another day rolls by and I go back to that spot I had seen the deer at. I spent a lot of time working out my path into their little lair, and I knew if the wind didn’t hose me, I should have a decent chance at getting a deer. I started my little adventure at 4:30, got into the spot and all nice and cozy at about 5:30, took a little nap, and then just waited. About 7:30 I see this deer about 80 yards out…once again, no optics, but I could see it was a nice buck. I thought this one looks big enough to be a 3 or 4 bagger, so definitely a shooter, but he’s grazing the wrong way. 20 minutes later, he comes grazing back my way, this time accompanied by a little 2 point. As he gets closer, I can see that it isn’t a 3 or 4 point, but a really big 2 point! This is a nice buck, and I decided I would take the shot it gets close enough. Then coming from the other direction comes a 3 or 4 point (I could count the points, just not all of them without optics). This is going to get interesting! The two 2 points are working their way much closer now, and the wind is swirling a little. To make matters more interesting the other buck in the trees now has a nice 4 point as a friend, but they were still 65 or so yards away in thick pines, whereas the 2 points were in the clearing coming closer! I knew if they got much closer they would wind me and the evening hunt would be over. When they hit about 30 yards, I tell myself it’s time to put some meat on the table, and I draw my bow when they drop their heads to graze. I let my 25 yd pin rest behind the shoulder of the big buck, when Mr. Smalls steps right in front of him! Now that usually wouldn’t be a big deal, but this year because of my new house project, I haven’t practiced holding my bow back so I have no idea how long I can hold this position, all while they are grazing closer and closer. I was counting heartbeats and lost track around 140, so I figured I held my bow back for about 2 minutes, even though it seemed like forever! Anyways the little deer keeps getting closer and is now about 12 or 13 yards away when the big one finally comes to the side of him, quartering to me a little, when he looks up at me…not that busted look, but that hey that looks just a little out of place look, so I know it’s now or never. I let the pin settle down just in front of the shoulder and let her rip! I was thinking this one is going right down the pipe and will probably exit just in front of the back leg, taking out every chunk of vital organ in the way. Much to my chagrin, the shot was a little high, but took out a chuck of muscle on the front shoulder, cut through a rib, and lodged right in the spinal cord! This buck drops like a ton of crap and starts flopping like a fish out of water! He was only running on 1.5 wheels. Blood was pouring from his neck, and I think he’ll be out of gas real soon now. The little buck he was with couldn’t figure out which way was up and just kept dancing around his buddy wondering what was going on. He stuck around going all around in circles for at least 10 minutes, coming several times within 10 yards of me before I had to spook him off. After about 15 minutes of Mr. Big crawling and laying down, one of the 4 points in the trees finally made it out, looked at him for about a minute, then bolted off through the trees. I finally had to get up and finish him off as he wasn’t burning enough oil on his own. I put a shot through his lungs and that was lights out! It was dark when I got him cleaned out, so I left him splayed out to cool in the night and went back first thing this morning to get him packed out.
It was a great hunt, and I really look forward to next year when I can try for his 4 point buddy that ran away! Here are a couple of pics for your viewing pleasure!
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] . I hope that you two can resolve this.